Sandy Island has been a mystery for scientists for over a century now. The Google map coordinates of the island have been disappearing and reappearing again with scientists baffled about the exact cause of the phenomenon.
An obscure piece of land located between Australia and an island named New Caledonia called Sandy Island, has been an enigma for many years, mentioned a report in NDTV.
Sandy Island, the report stated was first published in British Explorer Captain James Cook's Chart of Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean” all the way back in 1776.
Hundred years later inn 1876 a ship that was out to hunt and catch whales called Velocity, it states also reported seeing the island.
This was consequently reflected in several 19th century maps in England and Germany, it stated.
It was once again spotted in 1895, with the island believed to be 24 kilometres long and 5 kilometres wide.
There were growing doubts about the existence of the island with the French Hydrographic Service completely removing it from its nautical charts in 1979.
However, the report mentioned that in November 2012 several Australian scientists headed towards the Sandy Island and found nothing but sea.
The scientists, it said, even recorded the oceans depth at the coordinates which was 4,300 feet which suggests that there was little to no possibility that the island had sank below the ocean. Four days after this Google Maps removed the island from its service.
If you punch in the exact coordinates however, you can see a tiny “lump” in the ocean where the island used to be displayed on Google Maps, the report metioned.
Nobody truly knows whether the island ever existed and thus it still remains a mystery to date, it added.
